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India has spent crores of rupees over the past three years under the central government’s flagship rural electrification programme, the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). The three districts of Jharkhand’s Palamu division have also been one of the beneficiaries. The aim was to provide electricity to more than 2,000 villages by the end of 2009. But less than a month from the deadline, the situation remains grim, with the private company given the contract to do the work being unable to take power to even one-third of the assigned villages. According to the latest status report of the project, dated November 5, 2009 electricity has reached only 676 out of the 2,350 villages which are to be covered under RGGVY in Latehar, Palamau and Garhwa districts. Even among the villages certified as having got electricity by the concerned Block Development Officers, many continue to live in darkness either because of inadequate power supply or poor infrastructure that was put up.